Luke 17:1-10: How the Gospel Shapes our Service of Others
The differences between true religion and false religion are striking. False religion is judgemental, true religion is accepting; false religion is strident and forceful, true religion is gentle and yielding; false religion is critical and harsh; true religion is gracious and encouraging; loveless vs loving; external holiness vs internal holiness; hypocritical vs genuine; we all know the difference between true and false religion. False religion is repulsive but true religion is attractive. Our hearts are by nature religious; that means we are vulnerable to the deceptions and promises of false religion and hungry for true religion. Jesus throughout the...
Read More
Ephesians 5:19-21: The Church-shaped Spirit Filled Life
How do you know your life is controlled by the Spirit? It is not by having visions and dreams, prophecies and tongues, or casting out demons, Judas could do all these and was not Spirit filled. Paul outlines for us in verses 18-21 what a Spirit filled life looks like. The imperative of being filled with the Spirit if obeyed results in us ‘addressing one another in psalms’, in us making melody to the Lord with our hearts, a pervasive atmosphere of thanksgiving arises, mutual submission and reverence. Test yourself to see if you are Spirit filled or walking...
Read More
Luke 10:38-42: Martha and Mary
Business is an affliction that our age struggles with. Life has accelerated to dizzying speeds and many cannot keep up. Today you will find life skills books and life coaches who teach you about simplifying your life, about finding the calm in the midst of the storm, about finding the art of living in the battle of business. We live in an age where we have to choose between the urgent and the important. We have to attend to our on-line selves and our real-life selves. Having the right priorities in our business is a timeless problem for Christians...
Read More
Luke 9:18-22: ‘Who Do You Say That I Am?’
One of the most important questions we need to answer in life is in this text, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ This is the question that Jesus puts to His disciples. We live in a day and age where many think we cannot answer that question with any confidence. For the more scientifically minded the problem is one of historical distance and having to rely on pre-scientific eye witnesses. For the more sceptical certainty about anything even our own experiences is doubted. But God has given us His word that we can know things truly, though not...
Read More
Ephesians 4:7-10: ‘…He Gave Gifts…’
Paul is a man who loves to contrast things. In Romans 1-3 he gives us the bad news and the good news, the impossibility of sinners being righteous and then using the word ‘But’ talks about the free gift of righteousness that God provides, 3:21-31. In Ephesians 2:1-3 Paul talks about how dead in sin we are, then again in v4 beginning with a ‘But,’ God, by His sovereign grace intervenes and makes us alive in Christ. We have another contrast like this in the portion before us. Paul has been talking about unity, unity, unity, ‘BUT’ v7, diversity....
Read More
Luke 6:12-16: The Twelve Apostles
God’s ways are not our ways, and that is especially true when it comes to ministry. God uses all sorts of people that we would not expect. When you choose a president or prime minister you are looking for someone with an impeccable record, not so in the Bible. Where we have a winning formula for a leader, that type A personality that we think is the perfect recipe for success God uses different ingredients. This is very evident as we come to that part of the gospels where Jesus chooses His twelve apostles in Luke 6:12-16. Picture the...
Read More
Hebrews 10:24-25: Regular Church Attendance
Thanks to Rene Kempf for preaching this afternoon as part of our series in the Disciplines of Grace. Hebrews 10:24-25 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Read More
Romans 16:3-5a: Prisca and Aquila
Introduction: If I were to ask you to think of 24 names in a church you have never visited, could you do it? Could you name 24 people in the names of one of our sister Reformed Churches you have not visited? We come to now to the Greetings section of the letter where Paul greets 24 people in the Church in Rome. First mentioned are Prisca and Aquila. Apart from Timothy mentioned in 16:21, these would be the best known to us that Paul greets. Acts 18 as well as Paul’s ministry in Ephesus in Acts 19 give...
Read More
Romans 16:1-2: Deaconesses?
Introduction: What is the role of women in the church? Can women be deacons? These are some of the matters that we will be looking into today as we deal with Romans 16:1-2, ‘I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well.’ We come to a new chapter and the last chapter of the book of...
Read More
Romans 15:1-3: True Spiritual Maturity
Introduction: What are the marks of true spiritual maturity? There are many who think themselves to be mature but who behave like children. Think of the Corinthian church. They thought that their maturity resided in the fact that they had the miraculous in their church and that they were well educated. But Paul calls them infants in Christ 1 Cor. 3:1. They were infants because they were full of divisions, they were full of sexual immorality, they were not serving one another with their spiritual gifts but using them in a war of one-upmanship. They were not considerate of...
Read More
2 Timothy 4:1-8: Teach us to number our days
2 Timothy 4:1-8 4 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for...
Read More
Romans 12:13: Meeting needs in the church
Outline What Why Introduction The true mark of an inner healthy spiritual life is an overflow in service to others. Paul has been calling upon us to stoke our hearts to be fervent and not slothful; he has been calling us to sustain ourselves in difficulty, his thoughts naturally turn then to commands which speak about the practical outworking of a heart that is fervent and prayerful. Romans 12:13, ‘Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.’ Paul has made mention of contributing to the saints in 12:7-8, which speak about serving and contributing generously....
Read More
Romans 12:9: Genuine love
Outline The proof of love The essence of love The source of love Introduction ‘What the world needs now is love, sweet love….’ ‘All you need is love….’ The world knows that the human heart is full of hate and crying out for love, yet it cannot fix itself. Every independent attempt to build a human society has resulted in a loveless self-destructive catastrophe. The Communisitic egalitarian agenda; the Hindu caste system; our secular humanistic self-defining humanity, no matter what it is, every attempt will end in human unhappiness and us destroying not loving one another. Think of the...
Read More
Spiritual Gifts: The Gift of Hospitality
Outline Hospitality in the bible Hospitality today Introduction What do you think was one of the most effective tools for the spread of the gospel in the first century? They did not have the internet with Facebook, podcasts, or YouTube. They did not have the printing press with access to thousands of good books. They did not have church buildings in which they could meet and invite the community into. Not everyone in the early church could even read and write. We know that it was the work of God by His Spirit, but one of the everyday tools...
Read More
Romans 12:8: The Gift of Leadership
Outline Convictional leadership Sacrificial leadership Introduction Leadership in the world today is in crisis. In the Western world where we have cut ourselves loose from the Biblical worldview and opted for a post-modern moral relativism, we can no longer properly even define what a leader is and should be. The Post-Christian worldview has within it the seeds of its own destruction. In highlighting this inability in the area of leadership one person has written, ‘We want character but without unyielding conviction; we want strong morality but without the emotional burden of guilt or shame; we want virtue but without...
Read More
Romans 12:7: The Gift of Serving: Part Two
Outline The importance of the word The importance of administration The importance of the needy The importance of character Introduction When I said last week that we were going to do a whole sermon looking at the office of deacon today how many of you were excited to come to and listen? I know of two men who were terrified of this week’s sermon because they would no doubt feel under the spot light. But this look at the gift of the office of serving, deacon, is a most important topic for all of us. It is not only...
Read More